groves



March 13, .1945.

F-. H. GROVES 2,371,135

DOCUMENT PACKAGE Filed April 9, 1942 INVENTOR BY 6, 4 7 ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 13,1945

g 2,371,135 nooUMENrP-Acma z FrederickH. Groves; Dormant, re}. p a I Application April 9",- 1942, Serial. No.438g21i8 1 claim. (on. 229, 73)

This invention consists in aletter or other document within an envelope, the document sosecured: within the envelope that it; is: inaccessible,

otherwise than by such mutilation or destructionofthe. envelope as to be .irremediable and always thereafter to: be detected.

In the accompanying drawing, Figs. I and II areviewsl in. perspective of an envel'ope and a sheet ofcletter paper adapted. to be combined. Fig. III isa vlew in. elevationand fragmentarily in sectionof the enaccording to' the". invention.

velope and the sheet: of. letter paper folded and in. placewithin it; and in this-figure'also certain fastening means. are shown which fastening means togetherwith' envelope and paper cornto insurethe' placement: of the document 2 with its margin 22 in register with the seam 12 at the left.

Fastening means'3 are then driven, through'the assembly from surface to surface and clenched to -place. These fastening-means consist in a plate s. of metal, from which are slit and bent aside two crowns. or clusters of pointed prongs 31. The fast'eneris set in position upon the surm; face: of: the closed envelope (the position, shownplate the assembly of the invention. Figs; IV

andV. are views in: plan andin elevation-showing to. larger scale fastening means ofthe speciflc form thatI advantageously employ for the purpose. Figs/VI and VII illustrate the-application of the fastening 'means to the assembled envelope and sheet of letter paper, and in this figure, partly in elevation and partly in section, the instrumentalities are shown by which the fastening means are applied. Fig. VIII is a fragmentary view in plan of the completed assembly.

Figs. IX and-X are views comparable with IV andV, showing the fastening means in modified form.

The envelope I consists of a rectangular face with bottom flap ll, end flaps I2, and cover flap I3 extending from its edges. The flaps are so shaped and proportioned as to lie in overlapping assembly, with the seams of overlap extending along the ends of the envelope.

These seams are completed as is usual by means of adhesive. Additionally it is desirable that the seam l2 at the right, as seen in Figs. I and III, be adhered to the face of the envelope. Envelopes so shaped are familiar, and the feature described will be understood on a glance at Fig. I.

The document to be enveloped, in this case a sheet of letter paper 2, is, by a weakened line,

conveniently a line 2! of perforations, provided with a readily separable margin 22, and, when the sheet is folded for'introduction into the envelope, this margin persists aseparable margin of the folded sheet.

t the left, Fig. III), and beneath a press mem-v ber l the prongs. are driventhrough all the layers or: plies of. paper that constitute the envelope. and its-contents; The envelope at the time rests'uponan :anvil. block: that bears hemispherical domes fiih andzzupon the'spherical surfaces of these domes the-prongs 31, having penetrated the layers of papen'are turned and the clenching is accom plished; Advantageously, as shown in Fig. VII,

an the tips-of the prongs are reversed in the clenching operation, and turned back into the substance of the paper. It will be understood that such anchoring of the tips in the substance of thepaper affords greater security of the fastening devices, and by virtue of this feature, it is impossible to remove the fastening means without permanent disfigurement of the envelope. The reverse turning of the tips of the prongs has the elfect that there is no rough or projecting tip to catch upon other articles.

Preferably, the fastening means are, as indicatedin Fig. III, applied in duplicate, at the opposite end of the envelope and beyond the edge (the right-hand edge) of the enclosed and folded When the sheet has been folded and introduced 7 document 2. Indeed, it is desirable, if not an essential, feature of the structure that the cover flap I3 is at both ends riveted to the envelope body, and it will be understood that in some cases .two or more of the fastening devices may be used at each end of the cover flap.

It is manifest that, when once assembly has been completed, the enveloped document is inaccessible, and may not be read until the envelope shall have been destroyed or so far mutilated that it may not be restored. The package will by its appearance reveal whether it has come safely to the recipient, or been tampered with in transit.

The recipient opens the envelope by slitting its marginal folds, tearing or cutting away the lefthand end, turning the separated parts aside, and tearing the body 2 of the document free from its fastened margin.

Figs. IX and X illustrate that the fastening device may'in some cases be made smaller in and it will not be necessary in all cases that the prongs of one of the fastening devices shall pass through the body of the document"contained within.

While it has been proposed, hitherto, to seal envelopes containing valuable documents, the rivets employed are not secure against punching out, in such manner that they may be replaced by rivets of larger size, with restoration of the envelope to appearance of not having been tampered with. Having this circumstance in mind, it will be understood that my rivet structure inhibits such fraudulent tampering. As already mentioned the rivet is essentially formed of a thin plate of metal; the shank of the rivet (Fig. X) consists in the rosette or coronet of pointed prongs, and the head of the rivet consists in the flat body of metal surrounding the perforation formed when the prongs are stamped from the plane of such body. In position of service, the head of the rivet bears upon the outer surface of the envelope; the prongs that form the shank of the rivet penetrate the substance of the several plies of sheet material that form the envelope body, and the need for preformed perforations to receive the rivet is avoided; and the points of the.

prongs, spread outward, are clenched in the sheet material of the envelope body. The engagement of the head of the rivet with the envelope body is effective over such area that the rivet may not be punched out, or otherwise removed, without so far altering the appearance of the envelope as to make detection certain. The outermost ply of the envelope body is visible within the area of the perforation in the rivet head, and if the rivet should be punched out and replaced by a larger rivet the fact will be readily noted by all persons familiar with the structure. The punching out 5 of the original rivet removes the section of the envelope body within the area of the rivet head, .and thus the perforation in the counterfeit rivet will not be closed by the substance of the envelope. Thus, the perforation in the head of the l" rivet is a tell-tale against fraud.

The fastener of Figs. III-V is in effect two rivets that are bridged by a common head. The greater-area of such head, together with the "double security gained by the twin coronets, w aiiords augmented safety against undetected ,tampering with the contents of the envelope. Preferably the interval between the two coronets of pointed prongs is substantially equal to the diameter of the circles or perforations formed in 0 the plate-like head of the rivet.

25 for protecting the same against tampering, each of said rivet-like devices comprising a perforate head adjacent one external surface of the envelope body and having a coronet of pointed prongs thereon, all of the prongs of the device passing in the same direction entirely through the flap and envelope and having their tips bent over on the opposite external surface of the envelope body and turned back into the substance of such, forming within the coronet of prongs 35 and said perforate head avtell-tale disk of paper theidevice completely severs the disk to disclose 60 tampering.

FREDERICK H. GROVES. 

